It Could Have Been Easier
by FinnickOdair-Will-Live-Forever
Summary: She didn't hate her. She could never hate the sweet, innocent girl that represented everything Johanna bitterly laughed at. No, Johanna couldn't hate the one Finnick had loved so freely. One sided Johanna/Finnick oneshot.


**I don't own The Hunger Games. :)**

Johanna Mason remembered the first day she met Finnick Odair. She had punched him in the face and broken his nose.

"_Hey." He had sauntered up to her during her Victory Tour with a cocky grin on his face. "Are you a tree? Cause you leaf me breathless."_

"_Sleaze!" Johanna had pulled back her fist and punched him in the face, satisfied with the sickening 'crack'._

"_Oh my God! I was just kidding!" He had yelled, clutching his nose._

"_Well you should know better than to irritate me, Odair. Did you not watch my games?" Johanna had asked, a smirk gracing her lips._

"_Did you not watch mine? When I spy a victim…I always pull them in." Finnick winked at her, ignoring the blood smeared around his nostrils._

"_Don't make me punch you again, Odair." Johanna threatened the bronze haired beauty. She's have to be crazy not to admit that he was rather handsome- even she appreciated good looks sometimes._

"_Whatever, Jojo." He rolled his eyes._

"_Why are you talking to me like you know me?" Johanna snapped._

"_Because you seem like fun to aggravate. Now come sit next to me."_

The second time she had met Finnick Odair, six months later as a mentor, things had been slightly friendlier.

"_Hey, Odair. You're the only brainless idiot here out of all the brainless idiots that I know except for Blight and he sucks, so I'm sticking with you." Johanna said, leaving him no choice in the matter._

"_You stick with me, doll. I'll show you the ropes." Finnick had grinned, before waggling his fingers at a blonde girl who had laughed and waved back._

"_Who's the blondie?" Johanna had asked, eyebrows raised._

"_Cashmere." Finnick had pointed to another blonde, this time a boy. "That's her twin Gloss. And that's Brutus, Enobaria, Woof, Cecilia, Seeder and Chaff."_

"_And who's the old lady?" Johanna had then asked. Finnick had laughed and pulled her over to the older lady._

"_This is Mags, my old mentor." Finnick had said, smiling proudly at the old lady._

"_Nice to meet you, Johanna." Mags had smiled warmly at Johanna._

"_How do you put up with this idiot all the time?" Johanna had inquired. Mags and Finnick both laughed, leading Johanna to believe that the three of them would get on just fine._

Johanna looked back on those two meetings with a smile on her face, but whilst looking back on the third she grinned like an idiot.

"_Jojo!" Finnick had yelled, charging towards Johanna and hugging her. It was six months after their previous meeting. This time, it was because the Victor had been the female from District Four and she was on her Victory Tour. Johanna recalled her name as being Ann, or something along those lines._

"_Get off me!" Johanna had roared, before shoving him away from her. "And don't call me Jojo!"_

"_Aw, Jojo!" Finnick had ruffled her hair, grinning in that way of his that Johanna found incredibly irritating. He seemed to be in the happiest mood Johanna had ever seen him in, including the times she'd seen him on her television and he was a little tipsy._

"_Why are you so happy?" She had grumbled, violently knocking his hand away._

"_Let me tell you a little secret, Jojo." He glanced around the room before leaning in closer to Johanna's ear. "I'm in love with Annie Cresta."_

"_This year's crazy Victor?" Johanna raised an eyebrow._

"_That's the one. Since I was nineteen and she was seventeen. That's two years! But don't tell anyone…It's a secret." Finnick slurred. Johanna had audibly sighed._

"_Everything's always so dramatic with you."_

Johanna wasn't sure how long ago she had fallen in love with Finnick Odair. Two years? Three? He had been her best friend, her rock, the only reliable person in her life until she finally became friends with Annie. _Annie_. The sad part was, Johanna didn't hate Annie. She could never hate someone so sweet and innocent. She could never hate the girl that represented everything Johanna bitterly laughed at. Annie was everything Johanna knew she wasn't, and that was why she always tried to be happy for her and Finnick. She ate out with them in the Capitol so things didn't look suspicious. She visited them in District Four. They visited her sometimes too. She had even danced at their wedding, plastered a huge smile on her face and pretended to be thrilled for her best friend. She didn't want to ruin their friendship, or his relationship with Annie, so she had simply never told him that she was in love with him. Now he was gone and all she had left were the memories.

Johanna sighed and zipped her coat up further. She was on her annual trip to District Four and she had never been colder in her life. It was the day before the second anniversary of Finnick's death. Johanna was staying with Annie, and tomorrow they would walk down the beach together and share memories off Finnick like they had last year. However, today Johanna wanted to spend some time alone on the boardwalk.

"Why do I still love you, Finn? It's been years. Was it those damn green eyes? Or your idiot hair? Or your brainless personality? I don't even know." Johanna whispered to the wind. She sat down on the wooden floor and pressed her back against the boardwalk railings.

"I don't care that you know now. You're dead and of no use to me. It's not like Annie will ever find out anyway." Johanna had developed a habit of pretending Finnick was with her whenever she had a problem or needed to vent.

"_It's because I'm incredibly attractive, Jojo._" Finnick would have said if he were here, Johanna decided. Then he would have softened his voice. _"I'm sure Annie sees it too."_

"_Where you been hiding, Johanna? Haven't seen you since my wedding." Finnick had said to Johanna in District Thirteen, a few days before he left for the Capitol. He had knocked on her door and leaned against the frame when she had opened it._

"_Oh, you know. Been around." She shrugged._

"_Been around? As in 'I've been around annoying the carp out of everyone' kind of around?" Finnick had grinned._

"_Not without you, Finn. Never without you." Johanna grinned back._

"_Come on then." Finnick had grabbed her elbow ad pulled her down the hallway to go and cause some trouble. That was what the two of them where like. They laughed together and they cried together, but most of the time they pranked together._

"Damn you." Johanna pulled herself off of the floor. "Damn you and your perfect looks, perfect sense of humour, perfect laugh, perfect _everything_. Sometimes I wish I'd never met you. Would've been so much easier for me."

_You know that's not true. _A voice wormed its way into her head. Was it hers or Finnick's? Perhaps it was Annie's.

"Happy pre-death day." Johanna muttered. She spat into to the water and walked away, that final memory burning in the back of her mind as if it would be branded there for life.

**Just so you know, I didn't re-read this and I love Annie/Finnick. :)**


End file.
